Worcester City 1-2 Sutton Coldfield Town

With Kidderminster not playing, the Royals were able to extend their lead at the top of the table to 7 points with victory at Worcester

The first real chance of the game resulted in Sutton taking the lead after 7 minutes, when a corner played in by Chloe Handy was headed towards goal by captain Ruth Graham

A Worcester defender did get a touch on the line, but was unable to prevent the ball finding the net and the deadlock being broken

10 minutes in Worcester had a corner that saw a spell of header-tennis in the Sutton penalty-area until Graham was eventually able to clear

A Worcester free-kick was well blocked in the 15th minute, before the rebound was blazed way over the crossbar

3 minutes later a Worcester defender was relieved to see her goalkeeper catch the ball, having attempted a wild clearance that looped over her own head and towards her own goal

Sutton had appeals for a penalty turned down after 25 minutes, when a header from a corner looked to strike a defender's hand before being cleared

Sutton doubled their advantage on the half-hour mark, when debutant Rameyah Farquharson latched onto a ball forward before the Worcester defender and finished clinically from close-range

10 minutes from half-time, a clever flick from a Worcester attacker was dealt with at the far-post by Lottie McElroy

Just as the half ticked into stoppage-time, a long-range effort from Worcester forced McElroy into a fine save as she pushed the ball out for a corner

In stoppage-time, a Worcester free-kick was played into the box and almost dropped at the feet of an attacker before being hacked away to safety

HT - 2-0

Ally Forbes picked up a yellow-card for a late challenge 5 minutes after the restart, resulting in a free-kick that drifted harmlessly through to McElroy

Chloe Finn tried her luck from distance on the hour-mark, however the shot was easily dealt with by the goalkeeper

5 minutes later saw Worcester earn a free-kick in a dangerous area, however the shot was a good distance over the bar

Great work by Finn to create space in the penalty-area saw her get a shot away which just crept over the crossbar midway through the second-half

A minute later Sarah Lampitt hit a shot from outside the area which did not really test the keeper

Substitute Phoebe Hopwood made an instant impact, creating a chance for Handy that would surely have killed off the game had it gone in

However the Worcester keeper was on her toes, closing Handy down enough to make the save and keep her side in the game with 20 minutes to go

The keeper was again off her line quickly to prevent Hopwood from getting on the end of a pass from Freya Smith after 76 minutes

Worcester pulled a goal back a minute later when a strike from just inside the penalty-area found its way past McElroy, clipping the post on the way in

Finn almost restored the 2-goal margin straight from the restart, however her effort dropped just the wrong side of the post

On 84 minutes Worcester created a shooting-chance in the penalty-area, however 2 Sutton defenders blocked the effort ensuring the ball trickled harmlessly through to McElroy

FT - 2-1

Player-of-the-Match was Chloe Handy, who broke up several attacks and whose link-up play was excellent throughout